The return from the ashes?

Yesterday Lorena Ochoa showed she’s not ready to give away her spot at the Rolex World Rankings. The Mexican superstar has been the queen for 129 weeks and seems ready to play the tournament she hosts in November.

Lorena became the second player to win 3 events this year, along with Jiyai Shin.

Ochoa started the final round as the leader of the Navistar Classic, with a 3 stroke advantage over German Sandra Gal; she wanted to defend her title and change what happened last week when Sophie Gustafson defeated her in the CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge.
Lorena’s first holes were a mess, she scored bogey on hole 1, birdie on the 4th and double bogey on the 5th; nevertheless, she managed to sink her birdie putts on 8, 11, 14 and 17, which led her to a 70 stroke round, 2 under, and a final score of –16, with this she also broke the tournament record, which she set last year with 15 under.
The rest of the players played for second place even teen sensation Michelle Wie, who scored the best round of the day (-6), wasn’t a threat.
14 year old Alexis Thompson, who shared the lead for the firs t36 holes, couldn’t keep the peace and shot 74 on Saturday and Sunday. Se finally tied the 27th position and was the best amateur of the tournament.

 Alexis is the top-ranked junior.

This result represents Lorena’s first victory in a 5 month drought:

Month	Tournament	Position
May	Michelob Ultra Open	10
	Sybase Classic	19
June	McDonald’s LPGA Championship	23
July	Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic	8
	Women’s U.S. Open	26
	Evian Masters	40
	Ricoh Women’s British Open	28
August	Safeway Classic	49
September	CN Canadian Open	10
	Samsung World Championship	4
	CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge	2

Another important thing to say is that Ochoa jumped fro 6th to 2nd in the Player of the Year point’s race, she’s 6 units behind South Korean Jiyai Shin who has 131 points.
Seems like the slump is in the past and that the summer wasn’t the best season for Ochoa; let’s see if the autumn helps her to renovate.

Back to the winner's circle

Sophie Gustafson never gave up and fought fiercely and hold off Lorena Ochoa, who hasn't won since April, when she lifted the Corona Championship trophy at Morelia, Michoacán.

This was Sophie Gustafson's first victory in the LPGA since 2003 when she won the Samsung World Championship.

From the first round of the CVS Pharmacy LPGA Challenge, Gustafson shot the best round of the day with a 65. Her closest rival was a Mexican, but not precisely Ochoa. It was Sophia Sheridan another young player from Guadalajara and also coached by Rafael Alarcón, who by the way has been a regular member of the Durame Futures Tour and even a sporadic golfer of the LPGA, tour in which she features as a non-exempt member. Sheridan's performance made her country proud, it was the first time she reached the second place in an LPGA event.

Even after a 5 under round, Sheridan wasn't able to keep track and passed the baton to fellow countrywoman and childhood friend, Lorena Ochoa, who needed to win to shut the rumors that assure that she was in a slump and that her position at the Rolex World Rankings was at stake.

Friday and Saturday was a continuos fight between Gustafson and Ochoa, the Mexican accomplished to reach the first spot of the leaderboard, but not for long after the Swede posted a 66.

By Sunday both players were tied for the lead at 16 under and shared the group of honor. Their game was sharp and managed to score rounds in the 60's. Ochoa got birdies in 5, 9 and 16, never the less, she bogeyed 8, 15 and 18 to finish the day at even par. Meanwhile, Gustafson started with birdies in 1, 3, 9 and 13, plus an eagle in 5, she made mistakes in 6, 8 and 18. At the end, the Swede posted a 68 final round, to win the tournament.

This was Lorena Ochoa's best result in the last 10 events.

Even when Ochoa made a great effort, she's far from South Korea's Jiyai Shin at the POY Award and the Money List title.

*Flash*
Suzann Pettersen, who has already won once this year, withdrew from the tournament on Sunday. Apparently she's been dealing with foot problems.